Post # 17 Service learning

The service learning that I was a part of seemed to be very rewarding. I split my hours between two separate locations, the food forest on Florida Gulf Coast Universities campus and Barefoot beach preserve. Of the two I would definitely have to say that the food forest was more rewarding then the barefoot beach one. When I participated in the food forest we were doing much of the physical labor of carving out paths and making mounds that would be used as the planting surface. The forest, once finished, is supposed to be a self-sustained garden that FGCU students can come and get free fruit and vegetables instead of having fast food or other unhealthy foods. It was interesting to find out what determines how and why foods are deemed organic to those that are not organic. The people in charge of the forest explained that because of the compost that they were using as the soil had such a high grade that the food can then be considered organic. Although I found the food forest to be the more rewarding of the two locations I did hours at, Barefoot beach had its plus side to it. When I arrived at the beach I saw signs that it was gopher turtle mating season. This was interesting because there were mounds all over the side of the road, 69 to be exact. These are all the burrows of the eggs that the turtles have laid, and these burrows are protected with in the preserve. Also while I was at Barefoot I was trimming plants and doing general clean up around the beach. About half way through the work day one of the park rangers took me on a tour through the backwoods of the beach showing me different plants and the modern use that we have for them. I truly enjoyed both of these experiences and am looking forward to doing more work with both in the future.